


just what the doctor ordered

by helsinkibaby



Category: The Flying Doctors
Genre: Canon Het Relationship, Community: 1-million-words, F/M, Happily Ever After, Het, Post canon, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-23
Updated: 2017-07-23
Packaged: 2018-12-06 01:05:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 774
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11589858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helsinkibaby/pseuds/helsinkibaby
Summary: The last time Tom tried to go on holiday, he got caught up in a plane crash. This one goes much better.





	just what the doctor ordered

**Author's Note:**

> "The Good Book" post ep. 
> 
> For the one million words weekend challenge - I ignored the location on my picture prompt and just saw the sea and palm trees and used that !

Considering the last time he scheduled a holiday he ended up in a plane crash, Tom considers this holiday, to attend the Cooper's Crossing 150th birthday celebrations, a rousing success. Yes, he'd had to help out in a medical emergency, but at least he'd only listened to the bus crash over the radio, not actively been involved in it himself. 

Plus, he'd managed to reunite with the love of his life and convince her to move to Africa to work with him so he's definitely come out ahead. 

So ahead, in fact, that he decides to push his luck altogether and suggest extending his holiday. His superiors aren't too pleased initially but when he tells them that upon his return he'll be bringing a second doctor back with him, they're suddenly far more amenable to his request. 

"So I'm your bargaining chip then, am I?" Chris asks him when he mentions this to her and she slaps his shoulder with a laugh when he replies, "Yes." 

He's laughing too when he pulls her into a kiss but when his lips find hers - familiar and strange all at once - neither of them feel like laughing anymore. 

They go back to Melbourne first and he's there for her when she resigns her position, helps her pack what she needs and decide what can go into storage. The rest is either donated or left for the next tenant and by the end of the few days it takes them to get all of that sorted out, Tom feels like he's ready to crawl out of his skin - first the Outback and then Africa, he's not cut out for city life any more. Chris, meanwhile, feels the same for different reasons - she's packed up her entire life and while she tells him that she's happy with her decision, he knows it's a big leap for her. 

So when he goes to book their flights to Africa, he makes a unilateral decision and hopes she won't be too upset with him. 

"Do you trust me?" he asks her when he gets back from the travel agent, and while she gives him a questioning look, her answer comes reality enough. 

"Implicitly." 

When he sees her face brighten with a smile when she sees the tickets, he knows he's made a good decision, and when after less than five minutes in the Bali sunshine, he sees the tension begin to seep from her shoulders, from around her eyes, he's sure of it. They spend their days sleeping late before swimming in the ocean and talking to one another, reacquanting themselves with all that's happened in their lives since they last saw one another. They walk for miles on the sandy beaches, hand in hand, seeking occasional shelter under the tall palm trees and when night falls, they lie in bed together, tangled up the sheets and each other, reacquaninting themselves with each other's bodies. 

On their last day there, he smiles as he swims towards her, ducking under the water before he reaches her, swimming up to her and only emerging when he's right in front of her. She jumps and gasps with surprise and suddenly it feels like no time has passed since that long ago layover in Broken Hill, when he'd done much the same thing and he'd started to become aware of the vaguest tingle of attraction towards his new assistant doctor. She gasps his name and puts her hands on his shoulders, winding her legs around his waist. He wonders if she's remembering the same day, turns out she's remembering a different one. 

"This reminds me of Evans' dam," she says and he grins as he pulls at the strap of her swimsuit. 

"A couple of important differences," he points out and she gives him another one of those slow smiles of hers because they both know that Evans' dam had been strictly clothing optional, an option neither one of them had ever taken up. 

Chris lifts an eyebrow. "How ever will you cope with the disappointment?" 

Tom smiles as his hands settle on her hips, slide slowly up her back. "Oh, I'm sure I'll manage," he quips and her other eyebrow joins the first as he brings his lips to hers. 

They don't stay there for much longer, deciding to relocate to somewhere that's a little more clothing optional and Tom decides, somewhere in between the two locations, seeing the smile on Chris's face and the light in her eyes, that he really should take a holiday more often. After all, unexpected as it was, this one turned out to be just what the doctor ordered.


End file.
